Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows)

by Mell Corcoran

  “Look into the Bentley for me.” Max requested. “If it’s not too obnoxious and pretentious, see how long it will take for them to do one up for me. They were very accommodating with the GT. Which is sitting, collecting dust in Washington.”

  “You let Hanna drive it.” Connor was referring to Max’s office manager back at the Georgetown law firm.

  “She probably drives it to the mail box and back.” Max jested. “Even then she probably has a heart attack.” Max and Connor both laughed. “I should give it to her just to freak her out completely.

  Connor laughed even harder. “You should!”

  “Then it would sit in her garage and collect dust!” Max laughed for a few minutes longer, deciding he was going to give the paranoid woman the car just for the fun of it. When you had as much money as Max did, after all, you could give away cars on a whim.

  They took a few minutes to stop off at the construction site of Max’s home before driving the short distance to the McAllister compound. The construction was going at lightening speed, even with the massive amount of high tech security that was being poured into it. Abby had gone to great lengths to get special permitting from both the county and the homeowner’s association to work around the clock and it was paying off in spades. The redundant generator system, the steel reinforced basement, all the conduit work and wiring had been completed as soon as the framing was finished. Finn was on site supervising the crew personally since there were tons of secret components that needed to be kept that way. Once each component was completed, Frank would come in and wipe the crew’s memory so that no one would be able to identify anything that could compromise security. It was a tedious process but it was worth the effort to ensure Max’s new home would be state of the art.

  Max could hardly wait to get into his new home. The house itself was huge but Abby had taken control of the aesthetic design and he had been thoroughly pleased with every aspect of the plan. He was also extremely grateful to Abby for making sure that Lou was going to be happy with it as well. Lou had a huge love for the land in those hills and Max did not want to ruin it for her. He had even gone so far as to purchase the remaining land that was adjacent to both the McAllister compound and his own and was turning it into a park that the entire community could enjoy. The term park was a little deceptive since the average neighborhood park was about five acres and theirs was just under forty. The pond itself was more like a small lake that when finished would be just over five acres.

  After finishing at Max’s place they passed the park and he could see it was almost complete. Max wanted it done and ready for dedication by Lou’s birthday. It looked to him like they were right on schedule. The pond had been tricky and needed to be completed first thing in order for the water to be ready to accept fish by his deadline. Another thing to thank Abby for. The rest of the park was getting the finishing touches. Max noticed immediately how the recent rains had made it really come to life. Plants were thriving and in no time at all he expected to see spring in all its glory sweep through the entire park. He felt a twinge of pride that he had something to do with it.

  It was a little over an hour before Lou received a telephone call from Inspector Myles Dunhill of Interpol regarding Johan Esterhuizen. Though it was never actually said, Lou knew that Dunhill had been directed by Max or one of the others to contact her so that they could go on the record. Lou needed more information on Esterhuizen and Dunhill was clearly her man.

  “Esterhuizen had been off the grid for the last several months, even more so then usual.” Dunhill informed her. “Last fall we tracked him leaving Cape Town on a freighter bound for Rio de Janeiro which was a three week journey.”

  “Three weeks?” Lou asked him. “That seems like a lot of time to waste.”

  “Well, yes and no.” Dunhill explained. “When you are using the vessel to rendezvous and hold meetings with nefarious individuals who are also trying to stay off the grid, it’s an ideal situation. All one has to do is grease the captain’s palm for specific coordinates along the route to arrange the meets. A few euros here and there to make sure no one remembers seeing anything and you are as good as forgotten once the ship reaches port.”

  “Perfect for an international arms dealer.” Lou grumbled.

  “Precisely.” Dunhill concurred. “It was during this little cruise that Esterhuizen put out the word that he had a biological available for the highest bidder.”

  “What the heck does that mean anyway?” Lou wanted clarity once and for all. “Do you have any clue what that means?”

  “The intelligence analysts will tell you that with a person in Esterhuizen’s line of work, a biological item most often will mean a biological weapon.” Dunhill understood Lou’s frustration. “Anthrax, Tularemia, Ricin, Ebola, the usual suspects.”

  Lou blew out a breath. “Sure, the usual nightmare inducers. Would the intelligence analyst be correct though? I mean, this guy is dead in my back yard here. If he was selling that crap, where is it?”

  “This is a tricky area we are treading in, Detective.” Dunhill’s tone of voice changed considerably. “There are protocols we must follow. Do you understand me?”

  Lou understood but thought for a moment before answering him. “Inspector, I don’t mean to be rude but can you give me a number I can call you right back at?”

  “Of course.” Dunhill was the one who understood now.

  After jotting down the number, Lou hung up the phone and noticed Vinny and Dillon were staring at her. Lou had no way of explaining why she couldn’t talk to Dunhill on an unsecured land-line. She had to make up an excuse and fast.

  “What? I gotta pee!” She informed them as she snuck her cell phone out of her bag without them noticing.

  “Thank you for that news flash.” Vinny rolled his eyes and went back to work while Dillon chuckled.

  Lou headed down the hall towards the restroom facilities then casually passed them and headed out to the parking lot where she promptly called Dunhill back.

  “We on a secured line now, Detective?” Dunhill answered and Lou was sure he was grinning on the other end.

  “I appreciate your patience with me.” Lou told him, feeling a little foolish. “I’ll get the hang of this double agent thing eventually.”

  Dunhill laughed. “You’re not exactly a double agent, my dear. You are a Principate. But dual roles will prove to be a bit challenging at first. You will get the hang of things, I have no doubt.”

  “I appreciate the vote of confidence.” Lou chuckled. “Glad someone is rooting for me.”

  “Oh, a great many people are rooting for you Detective Donovan.” Dunhill was smiling again, Lou could tell. “If I can be of assistance in any way, at any time, please do not hesitate to call. It would be my honor to assist.”

  “That’s very kind of you.” Lou felt a little less foolish now. “I may take you up on that.”

  “As I said, any time.” Dunhill was very sincere. “Now, back to Esterhuizen...”

  “Right!” Lou suddenly remembered the subject of their conversation. “It sounded like you knew more then I’m supposed to know? I mean me the detective?”

  “Precisely, and this is going to be a tricky area for us.” Dunhill explained. “As far as the civilian populace knows, Esterhuizen was selling something biological which to every law enforcement agency on the planet will mean a weapon or at least a component. As I said before, Ricin, Anthrax, something along those lines.”

  “But to the Sanguinostri, we know better?” Lou was speculating aloud.

  “This should have been brought to the Senatus’ attention months ago but for whatever reason, my Dominor, has wanted to keep it in house.” Dunhill’s voice was lower now. “Our Aegis Council is in the process of doing a literal head-count here.”

  “A head-count?” Lou was confused. “You mean a count of all the Sanguinostri?”

  “That is exactly what I mean.” Dunhill confirmed.

  “You mean a Sanguinostri has gone missing? How
is that possible?” Lou was even more confused.

  “Myself and a few agents have evidence to support Esterhuizen was smuggling a blood born Sanguinostri out of the country.”

  “A blood born?” Lou thought about it a moment. “How could a blood born just disappear off the map and no one notice? And how could Esterhuizen kidnap them? That means that he knows of their existence and has exposed them to whomever was bidding.”

  Blood born Sanguinostri were precious. Given the antagonistic properties of the turned blood, carrying a child full term was a very difficult process. A mother was restricted to bed during the pregnancy and given a constant infusion of blood to prevent her own blood from attacking the foreign body growing inside her. Sanguinostri blood attacked any abnormality in the body in order to preserve itself. It made them impervious to illnesses of every kind and even made it next to impossible to get drunk or high. For these reasons a blood born was usually from a very well to-do family since they had the means and resources to accommodate such a complicated process. For a child such as this to go missing without the family screaming from the rooftops over it, well it just didn’t sound right to Lou.

  “You understand my frustration now.” Dunhill sighed. “The call from your Council could not have been more welcomed. My associates and I were discussing how to go around protocol and contact the Senatus ourselves.”

  “I’m sure I’m not supposed to say this...” Lou looked around the parking lot as if someone might over hear her before she continued. “What the hell is wrong with your Dominor?”

  “I do not know.” Dunhill understood her question. “Our Dom is a wonderful and wise man. I’ve had the privilege of serving him and the Council for twenty years and I have never encountered this sort of behavior. I am hoping that you can discretely bring this to the attention of your Dom and perhaps we can break this thing wide open.”

  “You bet your ass I will bring it up to him!” Lou was livid. “So do you know where Esterhuizen went once he landed in Rio? Did he have the blood born with him?”

  “One of our people tracked him straight off the freighter.” Dunhill assured her. “We believe his cargo was transported separately but have no proof. We just know that from Rio to Caracas, Esterhuizen had no one with him and met no one.”

  “Where did he go from Caracas?” Lou asked.

  “He flew to Cuba, which is where we lost him.” Dunhill sighed once again. “That was two months ago. He only resurfaced when you ran him through the system. We have been trying to figure out how to proceed ever since.”

  “From the Fall until now, no one has been reported missing?” Lou wanted clarification.

  “That is correct.” Dunhill stated with certainty. “With the events that have unfolded since Sunday, our Dominor ordered the head-count. As I am sure you know, that is going to take some doing.”

  “No shit!” Lou snorted. “Look at what a pain in the ass the 2010 United States Census was.”

  Dunhill laughed. “Well, the Sanguinostri are a little more tight knit and cooperative than average citizens so hopefully given that technology is on our side, we can get a far more rapid and accurate response than your Census.”

  “I suppose, but there have got to be some that want to be left alone and don’t answer role call.” Lou thought about it for a moment. “What if they weren’t kidnapped?”

  “I’m not sure I follow?” Dunhill wasn’t understanding her question.

  “I mean what if the family handed them over, willingly?” It was reaching and Lou knew it. She still had to raise the question. “You ever hear about the Safe Haven Law in Nebraska? When it first passed, before it was reformed?”

  “The one back in 2008 where it didn’t specify an age so people were driving across state lines to drop off their teenagers and such?” Dunhill was surprisingly well informed.

  “Correct. Maybe the parents were at the end of their rope and they dumped him? Or just let the kid take off?” Lou didn’t want to imply the parents abandoned their child but it had to be considered.

  “It’s highly unlikely.” Dunhill rejected her theory. “The Sanguinostri are, for lack of a better way of putting it, an ‘it takes a village’ sort. If one acts up it can pose a threat to us all so everyone gets involved.”

  Lou accepted Dunhill was right but she still felt it was worth looking in to. “So we need to come up with a cover story on this biological thing.” She shifted the focus.

  “We do indeed.” Dunhill agreed. “My thought is that since it was just a tip that British Intelligence received, we could treat it as unsubstantiated.”

  “Like it was never accurate and there was no biological?” Lou asked, wanting to make sure they were on the same page.

  “Exactly.” He confirmed. “It will take some coordination with all our agents but I think with you being Principate, you could get your people to pull it off.”

  “Someone has a lot of faith in me.” Lou chortled. “You think I have that kind of pull? Seriously?”

  “I do.” He was smiling again. “Especially with your Dominor fully supporting you the way he does.”

  “What exactly does that mean?” Lou sensed a subtext to his statement.

  “It means that it is well known among the Sanguinostri hierarchy that Maximilian Julian never chooses someone for such an esteemed post without his full faith and support behind them.”

  Lou was a little embarrassed. “Well, that’s good to know.”

  “I will keep you informed of developments as they happen.” Dunhill was apparently in need of wrapping up the conversation. “I will shoot you off an email to your secure address with all of my contact information. If you could please let me know what your Dom says once you have filled him in on my problem here?”

  “I’ll talk to him this evening.” Lou reassured him. “Thank you for all your help Inspector.”

  “It is my honor, Detective.” He was very sincere in that simple statement. “We will talk again soon.”

  “Definitely.” Lou agreed then ended the call.

  It was a lot to wrap her head around but Lou needed to get in touch with Max immediately. She needed to tell him everything Dunhill had just told her and he needed to know fast. She tried calling the hotel but Frank said that Max would be out of communication for a while. She pressed him to tell her where Max was but he simply asked how he could help her instead. Lou was running out of time. She needed to get back inside before Vinny or Dillon came looking for her.

  “I need to see him tonight, Frank.” Lou insisted.

  “I can see if I can have him at your house after work?” Frank was purposely not telling Lou that Max was already at her house with her parents and her uncle. Max had insisted no one tell her pursuant to Shevaun’s request.

  “That will work.” Lou conceded. “Promise me?”

  “I’ll text you as soon as I confirm it with him.” Frank reassured her.

  “OK, thanks.” Lou hung up on him and headed back inside. It was all she was going to get for now so it had to be enough.

  When Lou got back inside she was relieved to see that neither Vinny nor Dillon even looked up. It felt like she had been gone for an hour but when she checked the time, it had only been half that. Lou could have easily gotten stopped by someone welcoming her back and sucked in to chatting a while. A simple enough explanation if she had to give one.

  “OK!” Vinny shouted as he hung up the phone, startling Lou in the process. “I think I have something!”

  “What?” Lou asked as she focused on lowering her blood pressure.

  “I got a civilian outfit called Onus Global.” Vinny took a gulp of his coffee before continuing. “They contracted with the air base at the beginning of the year to use one of the hangars to house a few helicopters that they stated were being refurbished to run humanitarian aide operations.”

  Dillon hung up from his call and was catching up with what Vinny was saying. “Onus Global you said?”

  “Correct.” Vinny confirmed.

/>   “No such animal as Onus?” Lou was guessing.

  “Oh there is but it’s a private company and I can’t find one legit name attached to it.” Vinny raked his fingers through his shoe-black hair. “The contracts manager at the air base is faxing me a copy of the contract but she said the person she worked with was named Bob Smith.”

  “Hey, at least he didn’t use John.” Lou snickered.

  “True, points for originality I guess. Anyway, she said he was a pleasant enough man but her description of him hits the average Joe meter in every way shape and form.” Vinny referred to his notes. “Average height, average looking, brown eyes, normal brown hair, generic haircut, non-descript suit. The guy sounds like he was spawned from the plain-wrap gene pool!”

  “Any shot at getting prints off the contract?” Lou thought it was worth asking.

  “Contract was done via fax.” Vinny grumbled some more. “She only met him when he came to pick up his credentials and the keys to the hangar.”

  “Just one guy?” Dillon frowned. “There was no personnel that needed credentials to get in and out of the base?”

  “Oh there was!” Vinny smirked. “John Brown, Joe Green and Tim White.”

  “And no one raised an eyebrow at that?” Lou was stunned.

  “Unbelievable!” Dillon tossed his pencil across his desk.

  “Hey!” Vinny held up his hands. “They had the proper identification! Thumb prints and all!”

  “Seriously?” Lou was at a loss.

  “Only problem with that is she can’t find the extended file.” Vinny took another gulp of his coffee.

  “What does that mean? Lou was blinking rapidly now.

  “It means that the file with the prints and copies of any identification documents was removed.” Dillon guessed correctly. His irritation over the situation causing him to get up and pace.

  “How the hell does that happen?” Lou was visibly angry now. “At a naval air base no less!”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Lou.” Vinny really meant that. “Apparently shit happens at every level and all we have to go on is this Onus Global.”